Aurora's POV
As I stumbled out the rather small apartment building, I was immediately hit with a gush of freezing wind and the soft yet cold snow.
The little white snowflakes hit my shoulders, beanie and hair that was done into a braid and hanging over my left shoulder. I held my bag on my back, with my hands in my pockets.
"Bye darling", I heard a soft voice. My aunt was right behind me, about to climb into her car that was in the car park for all the people that live in the apartment building.
"Bye Aunt Ellie", I smile softly, as she wraps me in a hug before climbing into her car. She has to go to work, like I have to go to school.
Dreaded School. Two more months. Just... two more months.

I made my way down the footpath to the school that was at the end of the road. It wasn't a big school, but it definitely wasn't a small one either. Medium size, I'd say.
As I walked through the gates, dying to get inside and shake off the snow that had began to cover me again.
Finally, being hit with warmth as I waddle inside the building. I smile happily and make my way down to my locker.
"AURORA!", I hear a girly giggle.
I turn to see my group of friends and my best friend standing across from my locker. "Hey hey", I laugh at them as they wave like goofs. I turn back to my locker, stuffing my bag inside and grabbing my books for my first class.
I lock my locker back up and walk over to my friends, giving my best friend Celia a hug first. I then hug Paisley, Jake, Austin and Jane. The other people standing there are friends of mine, but not my close friends, so I just gave them a wave and a smile.
I wouldn't say that I am part of the bitchy/jerk group but more so a group that is friends with everyone. You could call us popular, but I prefer the term 'Friendly'.
The boys in our group are part of the basketball team, not the jerks though, the nice ones. Us girls, we're not really into getting involved with the school, we take part in something more huge. More fun.
Paisley, Jane, Celia and I are all part of the world surfing team. Teams from different countries all over the World come together in a country during the summer and compete for the title of the Worlds best surfers.
It took me my entire life to get to this stage, and I wasn't sure if I was going to get picked for the team, but I did.

I started making my way to home room with Celia, as we chatted about plans for the weekend. We didn't have much on, only something on Saturday night but our conversation was cut short by a loud bang erupting from a different hall.

A gunshot.

Many students screamed. Others fell to the floor in fear, ducking from bullets that they thought were being shot at them.
I gasped and Celia clutched onto my hand, scared for her life. I took hold of her hand, giving it a squeeze and whispering, "Hey, come on"
We practically crawl our way through the people and to the closest classroom just as we heard manly shouts from down the corridor. People screamed louder and I quickly pushed Celia into the room, to see that there were already people hiding. A teacher was hiding under the desk frightened. More people made their way into the classroom and I pulled Celia to the back, dragging her behind the big bookshelf. It was probably the best hiding spot in the room. We sat down on the floor and I held Celia close. She was very important to me, like a sister and I couldn't lose her, she means too much.
The tears began to roll down her cheeks as we saw students running down the corridor and into classroom, through the little glass square on the door at the front of the classroom.
More gunshots were fired and Celia began bawling.
"Hey, sshh. It's okay. We have a good hiding spot, they won't find us", I say in a whisper. People around the classroom were shivering and crying in fear. We all shared the same thoughts.
We thought we were going to die.
"I don't want to die Aurora", Celia cried quietly.
"Everything will be fine, you just have to stay as quiet as you can and stay still", I say in a calm whisper, pushing all thoughts and fears back, trying to calm down my friend.

As I opened my mouth to speak, the classroom door was thrown open furiously, hitting the back wall and making the small glass window on it shatter into tiny pieces. "Move back", I say, pushing Celia further against the wall. "EVERYBODY IN THIS ROOM, IDENTIFY YOURSELVES. STAND IN YOUR PLACE, IF YOU WANT TO LIVE", the manly voice boomed. He wasn't American like the rest of us.
I'm pretty sure I can tell the difference between all our American accents and then his. He sounded.. slightly British. I couldn't see anyone, but I could hear them shuffling and standing up in their places. Celia gave me a pleading look, but I knew our hiding place was good. Nobody knew we were here.
I shake my head, placing my hand firmly on her shoulder and pressing a finger to my lips. She held a hand over her mouth, to hold in her sobs.
I was honestly about to burst into tears myself.
"FORM A SINGLE LINE WITH YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEADS", the same voice boomed. More sobs came from the students who showed themselves.
"YOU WILL BE SEARCHED, AND YOU MUST ALL TELL YOU FULL NAMES TO THE MAN AT THE DOOR. IF YOU DON'T OR IF YOU LIE, WE WILL NOT HESITATE TO PUT A BULLET IN YOUR SCULL", The man shouted angrily, he was serious.
I pulled Celia into me and she buried her face into my shoulder. I rubbed her back soothingly and pressed the back of my head against the bookshelf.

I could hear chaos from outside and I peaked quickly around the corner to see what was going on. Students were filing out the door slowly, being patted down and having to tell their names. Men in black material masks and machine guns were being forceful. I quickly crawled back to Celia, making sure the man didn't see me. Although I couldn't see his face, I could tell her enjoyed seeing people scared. Like it was some sort of game.

"Everything will be okay", I mouth to Celia. She nods, trusting me, with tears still streaming down her face. I continue to peak around the bookshelf every now and then.
And soon enough, the students were out of the room and pushing down the hall.
The door was left open and I had the chance to see many men in the same black masks and guns walking around and making sure everyone was in line.
Shots were every now and then fired, making us jump and Celia to cry more.
I don't know what was more nerve racking; The fear of being caught or the constant gunshots.
I held my hand over Celia's mouth as I could hear a quiet conversation happening outside the door. "Everyone is gathering in the hall. We have men, hacking into the computer system and checking off every student"
I came to realization that once they find out that both Celia and I are not checked off, that they will come looking for us.

"Celia, after everyone in the corridor leaves, we will have to make a run for it. Do you have your phone?", I ask. She nods quickly, pulling it out of her pocket.
I pulled mine out at the same time and spoke, "Call the police, your parents. Text and tweet as many times as you can. Make a Facebook status. But don't say where we are hiding, just in case", I say. She nods her head as we both start calling someone.
"Damn it!", I hiss when I realize that I have no reception. "No reception"
"Me either", Celia whimpers. I let a single tear escape from my eyes but quickly wipe it away, not wanting to show my fear in front of Celia. It will wind her up more.

The men leave and the corridor stay silent. We stay in our safe hiding spot for about 15 more minutes before I turn to Celia, "We have to leave now", I whisper.
She shakes her head, "This is the only safe place to hide though"
"Celia, there is no safe place to hide. They're doing a system student check and they will come looking for us once they realize that we are not in the hall with everybody else"
She cries a little before nodding her head. I take hold of her hand and we quickly crawl out of the room and stand up, pressing ourselves against the wall of lockers. We slide across them quickly, making sure the other rooms are empty and all clear of the men in masks.

Soon enough, I hear loud footsteps. "Quickly", I hiss, pulling Celia into a nearby classroom and crouching against the wall with her following my actions.
Both shaking in fear, we wait until we see two men with a group of more students walking down the corridor. Students have hands of their heads and tears rolling down their faces.

A couple of tears escaped my eyes when I saw Paisley amongst the group. "It's Paisley", I whimper to Celia.
She sobs quietly, but I cut her short by squeezing her hand and whispering reassuring words.
"Okay, let's make a run for it", I say, dragging her out of the room and running as fast as we could down the corridor, we turned a corner into a different corridor. The school seemed like a maze when you are running in fear for your life. I couldn't remember my way around.
"Th-This way", I say, pulling Celia into the science block.
And there I saw it, the front doors.
I let out a little sigh of relief when I saw that they were not guarded. As did Celia.
We ran towards them, stopping short and trying to push them open, "No no no no", I whimper, after coming to the conclusion that they were locked.
"How are we going to get out?", Celia whimpered.

"You're not", a manly chuckle erupted from behind us.

Gasping, we jumped around, coming face to face with a man with a mask on. "Follow me bitches", he spoke again.
He turned around, walking back down the corridor and to a group of 3 men. "Found them boys", the guy spoke.
The 3 turned their heads and nodded. I could tell by their eyes that they were amused, "So this must be Celia Lily Smith", one man spoke, coming close to her face.
She whimpered in fear, gripping my hand harder and crying softly.
The man then moved to me, "And you're Aurora Belle McKina", he said stroking my hair, tugging on the end of my braid playfully. Not a good kind of playful.
"We've been looking for you. You two re quite the escapees aren't you?", another one chuckled.
I refused to let them see me weak, so I forced the tears back and held myself together.

"Get in line", another said, pushing us into the back of a group of students with fear written across their faces. Celia was in front of me and I was last in line, meaning I was the one with a gun pressed into their back.

I placed my hands on my head, just like all the other kids did and began slowly walking behind Celia.
The intensity and horror growled from the bottom of my stomach. There was too many of them, though they were dressed normally.
They ushered us all out, keeping guns pointed at us and guided every single student to the school hall. People try escape, they die.
"W-What's going on?", Celia whispered to me in horror, from in front of me. She was a couple of months younger than me and my best friend, I always felt the need to protect her.

"I-I d-don't know. Just stay quiet and stay with me. We'll be fine", I whisper back, taking her hand in mine as we were shoved into strict rows where men with automatic machine guns walked through, staring at each one of us, trying to get some sort of reaction.

I gasped as the unexpected walked through the main doors.



Teachers in handcuffs walked in a strict single line, like students did moments before. Some hand bruises and cuts. Mr. Lee, the P.E teacher had a beaten up face and a gash across his forehead. He probably tried to take them on.

The students gasped and whispered among themselves but were soon silenced by the screams of men.
The teachers were forced onto their knees with their backs towards us and guns pointed at each of their heads, a man standing in front of each of them.

Many shots were fired, and I soon looked up to see every single on of the teachers, laying lifeless on the floor. Everyone screamed and cried. The teachers, they were our only source of protection, they make everyone feel safe and keep us all in line.
I clutched onto Celia's hand.
It was unbelievable, the amount of men in black masks in the room was incredible.
Like they were part of some sort of gang.

A gang. Maybe they were.
Shivers run up and down my spine and I look to my left to see five boys walking through the little walk way, separating the students into two groups. They seemed to be looking for someone. Two of them seemed to start walking in between the rows of people, asking their names and looking them up and down.
As they arrived at my row, my breath hitched, they questioned people and I felt Celia grip my hand even tighter.

The two men stepped in front of Celia and she was shaking slightly in fear. I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze as one man asked, "Full name?"
"C-Celia Lily Smith"
"Age?"
"S-Seventeen"
"Hmm"
The two of them looked Celia over before moving to me. The boy who did all the talking previously to Celia stayed quiet and was staring into my eyes. I had a sudden boost in confidence and didn't look away, I kept a firm stare on.
He then exchanged looks with the other boy. The one who hadn't spoken, held humor in his eyes.
They resumed looking at me before the first one spoke up. "Name?"
"Aurora", I say quietly.
Both the men chuckle, "Full name sweet cheeks", there was something about his husky voice and piercing green eyes that sent shivers down my spine.
"Aurora Belle McKina", I say, even more quieter than before, where was my confidence going?
"Age?"
"Seventeen", I say weakly.
"Perfect", he spoke huskily. Shivers down my spine once again.
I blinked, looking up at him and then back down at my hands.
He then walked away with the other boy. He seemed to be the one every man in a mask was looking out for. Why did his voice sound so familiar? The way he chuckled. The way he stood. It was weird, I remember those eyes from somewhere, I just don't know WHERE.
And his paper plane necklace.
"Chosen one yet?", a different man walks up to the two who are now standing at the front of the hall.
"Yes", he spoke. His eyes met mine, and a warm feeling then spread throughout my body.
What the hell?
Everyone watched them intensely, and they seemed to notice, because they started whispering to each other, then, they all looking at me.
Oh god.
I looked down at my feet, pretending I didn't notice them
They spoke for a little while more before the boy and his four other friends, who were the five who walked in earlier, walked out the way they came.


Several minutes past and I was speaking to Celia n a low voice, "It's okay, we will get out of here. Just don't make eye contact with them and don't speak to them unless you are asked too, okay?"
She nods her head, letting another round of tears fall. I pull her in for a reassuring hug before ta voice interrupted us, "Aurora Belle McKina, please come to the front"
I gasped when I heard my name. Celia gripped my hand tighter and her silent tears, became loud sobs. She shook her head furiously and refused to let me go.
"Don't go. You have to stay with me", she sobbed.
"Hey, I will be right back, they probably just want me to do a headcount of something", I try to laugh, my voice cracks and I don't sound believable.
I slowly let go of Celia and take dreadfully slow steps towards the front. I stand about 2 meters away from the masked man before I am handcuffed and pushed to walk.

And the only thing running through my mind was 'Am I going to die?'